Spelling champs for 8th year in row

-Penn High School Spell Bowl team outworks others, coach says.

-Penn High School Spell Bowl team outworks others, coach says.

November 17, 2006|JENNIFER OCHSTEIN Tribune Correspondent

It's not only that the Penn High School Spell Bowl team has the best spellers in the state, says coach Pete DeKever, but their recent state championship demonstrates something far more important. "They're the best learners in the state," DeKever said of his team. "They learn content better than any other team." For the past eight consecutive years, the Penn team has either posted the highest score or tied for it in the state Spell Bowl championship, DeKever said. Three years they tied and five times they scored the highest. DeKever and his students attribute their record and success to the amount of work they put into it. "They outwork everyone," said DeKever of his team. Naturally if you work harder than your opponents in any competition, you're likely to come out on top, said DeKever. While there are 3,200 words on the Spell Bowl list that students need to learn to be successful, each Penn team member learns 35,000 words, he explained. "And that's what gets you to the point that when you're competing you have a more solid understanding of words," DeKever said. "That's called 'mastery learning.'" He said the goal is perfection. And all the work the teens put into Spell Bowl makes perfection possible, he added. Students said that starting on the first day of school, they practice for over an hour for four days each week as a team. "We spell each word multiple times," said Abby Walton, 17, who is a junior on the Spell Bowl team. "We spell them over and over again, and we write a lot." Vik Rao, 17, a senior, said they even work on words during summer break. DeKever gives them lists in May to learn over the summer, said Vik, who has the unofficial second all-time highest score in the 22-year history of Spell Bowl. "Other teams work hard, but it's not as intensive," Vik said. Being a spell bowler -- especially a Penn spell bowler -- has helped Abby develop a strong work ethic, she said. "You can't slack off and be on the team," she said. Jenny DeVito, 18, a senior, said being on the team has taught her about commitment and dedication. "Mr. DeKever expects commitment," said DeVito, who has the unofficial all-time highest score in the history of state Spell Bowl. And, she said, the knowledge that the team has so many consecutive wins drives her to not let her teammates down, and past teams are counting on current teams to keep the streak alive. But even though they work hard, the team has fun, too. "I've made a lot of really good friends," said Vik. "That's the reason I come back -- the experience and to hang out with people I like. I've been friends with the seniors on the team for all four years." And the words themselves seem to either become friends or enemies. For Vik, the word gamboling, which means frolicking, has become one that irritates him simply because he's had to spell it numerous times. And it's one that has the potential to trip teammates, because it sounds a lot like the word gambling. But he doesn't hesitate to say that his favorite word is lugubrious, "because it sounds funny." It gives him more of a laugh when it's said with a mouth full of food. Ironically, the word means sad or mournful.